Rainy Day Servitude
by peroxidepest17
Summary: Walking home from school in the rain.


**Title:** Rainy Day Servitude  
**Author:** Celeste  
**Rating:** PG-13 (there be some shounen-ai here...)  
**Feedback:** (yes!) IchixRuki…ish. --;;  
**Spoilers:** Nope  
**Summary:** Walking home from school in the rain.  
**Genre**: Fluff/Humor  
**Word Count:** 1,277  
**Time: **Much longer than anything this short should have taken. (But I saved time by forgetting to edit. Ahehehehehe…yeah.)  
**A/N:** You know, this contest thing has been totally bugging me for like, the entire month because for some reason, my brain has this automatic 'off' switch when it comes to most fic contests in that it doesn't want to cooperate when it has too, preferring to go off and write like, a billion other random, pointless things so long as it gets to avoid the thing I really want to finish writing. Seriously, I had like, three different stories started for this by the time I finished this and decided to just reject the other two on the basis that the odds of me getting my muse to cooperate again would just be too great to overcome. So yeah, this is far, far, far off from my original plans as to an entry, but seeing as to how the idea I had has been done by other more capable authors in their works, I don't feel like I lost too much. --;; Anyway, it's just silly fluff, but at least I got something done, and I will just have to be satisfied with that.   
**Dedication:** Jenkat, because she gives me funny (though obviously un-amused) looks when I write things OTHER than IchixRuki. Hope this uh… quells the glares for a bit. --;;  
**Disclaimer:** Not mine, alas. I wouldn't mind borrowing Hisagi any time though. XD  
**Distribution:** Just lemme know.

* * *

The day had been going fine despite the start of bad weather sometime late in the afternoon. At least, it had been until Keigo proclaimed out loud that the rain was wonderful because that meant romantic walks home under shared umbrellas.

Wordlessly, Ichigo glowered at him intensely until he slunk away, the shorter boy complaining loudly to a sympathetic Mizuiro about how rude some people were when he was trying to help them, wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

Kurosaki snorted in response and kept walking, because both other boys were too damn annoying when it came to some things. As far as the orange-haired shinigami could tell, _he_ was the one doing Asano a world of good by redirecting him.

It was in both of their best interests, after all. Ichigo didn't particularly want to clean up the body when Rukia obliterated Keigo with her fist for inappropriate touching should he force her to share an umbrella with him.

The mere thought almost had him glaring again, but not wanting to hear any more of Keigo's pity-mongering, he held himself in check. "Idiot, it's not even raining that hard," Kurosaki muttered instead, looking out from the overhang they were currently walking under.

The rain was light as far as spring rain usually went, almost invisible droplets of water falling from the sky in such a manner that you had to be looking at it from a particular angle (or squinting particularly hard) to be able to see it.

He had an umbrella anyway, simply because it was a habit from childhood to carry one around in his bag with him. He didn't particularly like rain, after all.

But as prepared as he was, some people were stupid and _weren't_ and as a result the fact that he carried around an umbrella all the time- just in case- meant absolutely _nothing._

Beside him, Rukia unabashedly clutched his closed umbrella, his uniform jacket draped over her shoulders to stave off the slight chill.

Ichigo clutched his bag in his hand, prepared to hoist it above his head and make a break for it once they cleared the last outposts of shelter the school offered to homeward bound students.

Tatsuki had taken one look at the two of them and burst out laughing. Then, without explaining her idiotic-self, she'd flashed a knowing look to Rukia and a quick thumbs up to Ichigo before rushing off to her afternoon karate practice.

He didn't really know why, but that had been _super_ annoying.

And if he thought he could kick her ass, he might just have threatened to.

But Tatsuki was a monster, and Ichigo wasn't in the mood to deal with whatever stupidity she was throwing their way today.

Because, as everyone could readily attest to, the rain made Kurosaki sullen.

It might have been all the memories of rain, of things that had happened in the rain and things he had seen while it was raining. It might have been all of those things that seemed to sap the energy from him during the wet spring season. But he suspected that mostly, it was just the fact that the rain was bothersome.

He just didn't have the strength to deal with it beyond giving it a cursory glance to affirm that it was indeed, falling, and to dig around in his schoolbag for his umbrella.

The issues of his past were too complicated to bring into the picture along with the fact that the weather was shitty, and so he focused on the weather being shitty because even though it was bothersome, it was less bothersome than drowning himself in his own angst and then have to avoid talking about it with someone when they inevitably asked.

All he wanted to do was get home quickly and take a nap.

The best way to deal with bothersome things that couldn't be helped when you were exhausted was to ignore them.

He shuddered slightly and buried one hand deeply into his pants pocket when he felt a cool wind pass easily through the thin material of his short-sleeved uniform shirt, cursing under his breath and picking up the pace marginally, though not fast enough to outpace Rukia because she got annoyed with him and his tallness when he made her have to trot to keep up.

Eventually they neared the end of the sheltered walkway, and Mizuiro and Keigo, showing that they were still friends despite Ichigo's bad attitude, 'helpfully' broke off from the small group, being completely unsubtle as they winked and made a show of how they were going the opposite way _right now_ and that Ichigo and Rukia should go on without them, teeheehee.

Ichigo snorted in their general direction, feeling rather relieved to see them go even if they were being more idiotic than usual about it as they did.

Bothersome people compounded with bothersome weather and _Rukia_ with his jacket on because she'd complained of cold even with her _own _coat on while holding his umbrella on top of everything else, made him more than ever, want to crawl into bed and hoist the covers up over his head like he used to do when it was raining and he was three years old or something.

Vaguely, he knew that that sort of regression couldn't be healthy.

Eyeing the petite brunette beside him, he was more than willing to make her shoulder all the blame, though whether she could be made to care for her hand in the whole thing was another matter all together.

He snorted inwardly. She definitely wasn't the type to feel bad over making a guy go completely crazy.

Resolved not to think about it any more, he took a deep breath as they reached the end of the walkway and hefted his book bag over his head with one arm, waiting patiently for Rukia to open up the umbrella beside him.

His efforts to be courteous resulted in his umbrella being smacked solidly against his chest.

"Oi…what the hell was that for?" he demanded, looking down at the former death god with barely concealed annoyance.

Rukia sighed, because it really should have been obvious. "Take the umbrella."

Kurosaki blinked, not having expected that at all. But managing to school his surprise rather well from that point onward, he scoffed in response because really, it was the thing to do. "Idiot, do you want me to look like a complete asshole?" he berated her, pushing the proffered umbrella back at her. "Just take it. Like I said, it's not really raining hard."

Rukia, crossed her arms and arched an eyebrow at him. "Of course I'm not offering it back to you, stupid! You're the taller one, which means if we're going to share, _you'd_ better carry it, unless you want to be poked in the eye."

Ichigo regarded her warily for a second. Realized rather quickly that yes, she _would_ make him carry the goddamn thing for her.

"I'd be poked in the throat."

She looked threateningly at him.

"Che. Okay, maybe the eye."

She shoved the umbrella back at him. "Now hurry up, we don't have all day."

Taking it with a half-hearted glare at the petite shinigami before opening it up for them both, Ichigo held it aloft as Rukia walked beside him with his coat flapping loosely around her shoulders, looking for all the world like some sort of imperial princess being escorted by her ridiculously tall, glowering servant-boy.

Halfway home, the rain intensified significantly and Rukia threw him one of those smug,

'_aren't you glad I thought of this?_' looks of hers.

Ichigo decided he couldn't wait for May.

**END **


End file.
